Macedonia

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkans in southeast Europe. The region was first inhabited in 7000 BC, and the kingdom of Macedon was established in 808 BC. Macedonia was originally inhabited by Greeks, and Macedon's expansion into its current region was carried out from the reigns of King Perdiccas I of Macedon in the late 7th century BC to Philip II of Macedon in the mid-4th century BC. Since then, Macedonia has been inhabited by the descendants of the original Greeks, by Slavs who came to identify as "ethnic Macedonians", by Albanians from neighboring Albania in the west, and by minorities such as Turks, Bosniaks, Roma, Serbs, Vlachs, Egyptians, Armenians, and Jews. By the 21st century, most inhabitants of the region were Orthodox Christians, but notable Muslim populations existed among the Albanians, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Bosniaks, and Turks. Following the Breakup of Yugoslavia, a republic calling itself "Macedonia" came into existence, causing controversy with neighboring Greece in the south. On 12 February 2019, Macedonia resolved the dispute by renaming itself to "North Macedonia".